Kalb-Ramond coupled vortex fibration model for relativistic superfluid dynamics

Abstract

The macroscopic dynamics of a rotating superfluid deviates from that of a simple perfect fluid due to the effect of vorticity quantisation, which gives rise to a substructure of cosmic string type line defects that results in a local anisotropy whereby the effective average pressure in the direction of the vortex lines is reduced below its value in lateral directions. Whereas previous descriptions of this effect have been restricted to a non-relativistic framework that is adequate for the treatment of liquid helium in a laboratory context, the present work provides a fully relativistic description of the kind required for application to rotating neutron star models. To start with, the general category of vortex fibration models needed for this purpose is set up on the basis of a Kalb-Ramond type variational principle. The appropriate specification of the particular model to be chosen within this category will ultimately be governed by the conclusions of microscopic investigations that have not yet been completed, but the results available so far suggest that a uniquely simple kind of model with an elegant dilatonic formulation should be tentatively adopted as a provisional choice so long as there is no indication that a more complicated alternative is needed.